How to create and use WhatsApp’s click-to-chat link

Customers generally dislike waiting for an email reply or being kept on hold when they contact a business. They prefer quick and easy communication channels. In today’s world of instant gratification, Meta’s WhatsApp is becoming customers’ go-to messaging app for getting in touch with a business. With this trend emerging at a lightning-fast speed, more than five million businesses have already been using WhatsApp to interact with their customers.

In this article, we explain what WhatsApp’s click-to-chat link is, why to use it, how to create one, and where to implement it for the best results. Let’s dive into it.

What is WhatsApp’s click-to-chat feature?

The click-to-chat link allows businesses to interact with customers and website visitors on WhatsApp chat. Once a person clicks on the link, a chat window will open on their phone or on WhatsApp web, where they can directly chat with the business. The biggest benefit is that neither the business nor the customer has to save any number on their phone.

Click-to-chat works on both your phone and WhatsApp web, as long as the person clicking on the link has a WhatsApp account. It’s a great way to market your offerings as well as offer customer support.

Here is an example of a WhatsApp link embedded in an image. Clicking this will open a chat window on WhatsApp with our chatbot.

Why use WhatsApp click-to-chat link?

• Hassle-free: Customers don’t have to save your number in their contact list before they contact your business.

• Platform independent: Whether your customers are on Android or iOS, you can use click-to-chat for them to reach out.

• One-click to chat: You can automate first responses: Just one click initiates the conversation between your business and the customers on WhatsApp.

• Multiform factor: This can be used as a hyperlink or QR code or can be integrated into an image or a GIF.

• Lead magnet: The links can be prominently displayed with an offer banner on your website or hyperlinked in the chat widget to initiate conversion, generate leads, and sell products. With a WhatsApp link generator and chat widget, small businesses with just a website can streamline their offerings and sell directly on WhatsApp without having to invest heavily in building a full-fledged e-commerce website.

How to create a click-to-chat WhatsApp link

There are two ways to create a WhatsApp link. The first is to directly put the WhatsApp phone number and the message in a specific format, and the other is to create WhatsApp links within the WhatsApp Business app. Let’s take a look at each of these.

Create a link without any tool

⚫︎ Create a simple link – For a simple link without any custom message, the URL starts with “ https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=” followed by your phone number in the international format. 

For example: Phone number: 8818181080 Country Code: +44 Your WhatsApp link would be: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=448818181080

Here, note that we have not included “+” or any other special characters in the phone number. So, while adding the phone number, ensure you omit any zeros, brackets, special characters, or dashes.

⚫︎ Create a link with a pre-filled message: A prefilled or custom message is the default message that the business will send to initiate the conversation. This is like a template for the first response from your business. For example, if the business adds “Hello!” as a custom WhatsApp message, this will be the first message from the business to initiate the conversation. Even if you don’t add a custom message in your link, the chat will get initiated as soon as the user sends any text in the chat.

Space: Use %20 to add space in the text you want to create. For example, if you want to write ‘Hi, how are you?’, it will be' Hi%20how%20are%20you? '

Your WhatsApp link will be: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=44768483016&text=Hi%20how%20are20you?

Multiple sentences: If you want to write multiple sentences, then to include a full stop you can add %0A. Suppose you want to write: ‘Hello Jim. How are you’, then you can write it as Hello%20Jim%0Ahow%20are%20you%0A

And your WhatsApp code will be https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=44768483016&text=Hello%20Saurav%0Ahow%20are%20you%0A

Create a link within the WhatsApp business app

If you already use the WhatsApp Business app, you can create a link within it. This link will have a unique ID linked to your business account, and you can initiate the chat only with the number linked to your WhatsApp Business account. However, you can always create links for multiple WhatsApp numbers with the steps mentioned earlier.

To generate a link from the Business app, go to Settings> Business Tools >Short Link

The format of the link created in the Business app will be https://wa.me/message/NSGZX546XIj1, and the text after “message/” will be your unique code.

Where to implement WhatsApp links for better results

Websites: Implementing it on a website is one of the best places you can use WhatsApp links. But instead of using it just as a link, businesses should embed it in a banner saying “Contact us on WhatsApp” or “Shop with us on WhatsApp”. The simple reason is that an image with good creatives will get more attention than a simple link. Here is a good example of how ICICI Bank has done it on its website.

If you want to be more creative, you can even use the WhatsApp links with a GIF.

Businesses can also use it as a QR code, that website visitors can scan and chat instantly. If you are using the Business app, you can get the QR code from the app itself. And if you are creating the WhatsApp link manually then you can use a QR code generator to get the code.

Social media pages: Today, almost all social media platforms, including Instagram profiles, give you an option to add your website address to the pages. This is a great place where you could add WhatsApp click-to-chat links.  But with Facebook pages, you don’t even have to do that because there is already an option to add a WhatsApp button on your page without using any link. To do that, follow the steps mentioned in the image below.

Social media post:  Including the click-to-chat link on your social media posts is a great way to reach your customers and give them a quick way to chat and buy from you.

In the social media post below from an apparel store, although they ask their customers to say ‘HI’ on WhatsApp, things would have been a lot easier if they had just added the click-to-chat link instead. Then, customers could have avoided the hassle of saving this number on their phones.

Chat widget: Another great way to leverage WhatsApp links on your website is to use the chat widget available on your website. Chat widgets can get the user’s attention instantly and nudge them to initiate a conversation with your business. 

Great customer experiences are delivered when businesses are empathetic towards customer problems. The best way to achieve that is by providing them with the right solution, fast. Live chat software allows your business to interact with your customers on WhatsApp and other messaging channels like SMS and Facebook Messenger. With Freshchat, the opportunity to grow your business is endless. Want to know what Freshchat can do for you? Sign up for a free trial now.